Free Agent Pursuit Thread(No You-Know-Who)
- Thread starter Kin
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bustaheims
Active member
mr grieves said:
Once the RFAs are signed, the rookies and their potential bonuses are accounted for, etc., there's really not that much cap space available. Not unless contracts are moved out.
In fact, what the team should start looking into are ways to rid themselves of Horton. His contract isn't an issue now, but the LTIR/bonus situation could become one in a couple seasons when cap space will be more valuable to them.
I'm wondering if Kyle Quincey will draw any interest from Leafs? He is a steady dman with good size, who would bring a veteran presence to a fairly young d group. If anyone is familiar with his game it would be Babcock so it will be interesting to see if he pushes to get him here.
bustaheims
Active member
Frank E said:
Honestly, unless a team loses someone in training camp in September, I think they're Leafs until near the deadline. There are roughly equivalent players in the UFA market that teams won't have to give up assets for - and may be able to sign to cheaper deals.
Just to show the current logjam at forward:
JVR-Kadri-Soshnikov
Komarov-Bozak-Nylander
Greening-Matthews-Lupul
Rychel-Laich-Michalek
Hyman-Holland-Marner
Leivo-Froese-Brown
JVR-Kadri-Soshnikov
Komarov-Bozak-Nylander
Greening-Matthews-Lupul
Rychel-Laich-Michalek
Hyman-Holland-Marner
Leivo-Froese-Brown
Frank E
Active member
CarltonTheBear said:
It's kind of why I mentioned it...if they don't get rid of some contracts, I think we've got a bit of logjam here.
Since it's pretty obvious that the three I mentioned don't really have any place in the future plans, I'm wondering if they pay someone to take on one or two of them.
WhatIfGodWasALeaf
Active member
So I keep hearing people talk about Toronto and the cap and how they are fairly close.
Season 17/18 they'll have 8f, 2d and 1 goalie signed for a total of $45.3m. Let's go nuts and say that they also have to pay another 3 million in bonus payments to successful rookies so $48.3m.
They'd have approximately $25m fill out the rest of the roster. I'd wager of the 9 remaining spots on the team maybe 4 of them will be kids on ELC's still. That leaves you with approximately $21m to sign five guys to beef up your team.
All of this is also assuming JVR, Lupul and Bozak are still on the team which is highly unlikely and all three would free up close to another $14m in cap room, you could cover a significant chunk of Marner, Matthews and Nylander's 2nd contracts with that money.
I mean at what point would you just be being frugal for frugal's sake? The cap could come down and you'd still have a massive cushion and to be honest, I don't see the PA allowing that to happen.
Season 17/18 they'll have 8f, 2d and 1 goalie signed for a total of $45.3m. Let's go nuts and say that they also have to pay another 3 million in bonus payments to successful rookies so $48.3m.
They'd have approximately $25m fill out the rest of the roster. I'd wager of the 9 remaining spots on the team maybe 4 of them will be kids on ELC's still. That leaves you with approximately $21m to sign five guys to beef up your team.
All of this is also assuming JVR, Lupul and Bozak are still on the team which is highly unlikely and all three would free up close to another $14m in cap room, you could cover a significant chunk of Marner, Matthews and Nylander's 2nd contracts with that money.
I mean at what point would you just be being frugal for frugal's sake? The cap could come down and you'd still have a massive cushion and to be honest, I don't see the PA allowing that to happen.
Frank E said:
If they're still here come training camp, and I expect that they will, I just hope that Babcock doesn't do them any favours just because they're veterans. Last season those types of guys occupied roster spots even though Nylander and Brown probably deserved them (Babs more or less even admitted as much). If Brown or Hyman or Marner deserve to be on the team this year then we need to see Greening and Michalek placed on waivers and sent down instead of them.
bustaheims
Active member
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
I think, considering what's available in free agency this summer, there's plenty reason to remain frugal until July 2017. There's no sense in using up that cap space on players that aren't going to move the needle enough to justify their cap hits, or are too old to warrant committing to long-term.
As for the cap, there's a good chance it remains relatively flat or drops simply due to the addition of a team in Vegas. As things stand right now, they're have to bring in ~$125M in revenue just to keep the cap where it is. That would actually mean they'd be around the 12th highest earning team in the league. There's only so much the PA can do to keep the cap from dropping. If average league revenues drop, the cap drops. The 5% inflator can only help . . . well, 5%.
bustaheims
Active member
Tigger said:
If he does go to Europe, the Leafs can suspend him, and, since he's not on a 35+ contract, I believe he'd come off the cap. I've read those rumours, as well as some denials, so, I'm not sure how likely that is.
Kin
New member
Frank E said:
Laich in particular seems like the perfect guy to keep around. Veteran, well-respected and almost entirely valueless. I agree with CtB that you don't want to see promising kids kept down if they've earned a spot but I also don't think you want a team where Kadri/Gardiner are the elder statesmen.
bustaheims
Active member
CarltonTheBear said:
I think Froese, Leivo, and Rychel are bound for the Marlies. That opens things up a little. Lupul's a question mark in terms of health (as he always seems to be). As for the rest . . . one of Soshnikov or Hyman may have to start the season in the AHL. They were both good in their brief stints last season, but I don't think either of them are guys that are locks for the roster.
WhatIfGodWasALeaf
Active member
bustaheims said:
Yeah, I hear you and I'm not looking to add a bunch of UFA boat anchors here either, but there are a few interesting options out there that could really help the team out and they wouldn't kill them if they made Lupul type money for example. Your point about the pie having an extra slice taken out of it is a good one, but I'd be surprised if Vegas isn't a net positive for the league at least in the short term.
To quote the great coach Orion "Don't be careless, but don't be too careful either."
bustaheims said:
I'm not either, I think he'll probably be at Leafs camp. As far as sending him or Greening down, maybe, but I don't know what kind of shelf life Leivo or Holland have either, whether Hyman or Sosh start, whether Marner has his 'NHL' summer, and who knows about Lupul. It's log-jammy now but it might not be so much by the end of the summer.
Kin
New member
Also, I was thinking about this last night. Can we really ever say that going after a big ticket UFA was the right decision for a team?
Ignore, for a second, the way we treat winning a Stanley cup as both the only acceptable outcome for a team and also something that justifies anything that precedes it.
When we talk about the big ticket free agents who helped their teams win cups, aren't we also talking about the teams that had to make the most bad decisions salary capwise? Would the Bruins have really been worse off if they hadn't signed Chara but could keep Kessel or Dougie Hamilton? Or if the Blackhawks didn't sign Hossa but kept Ladd or Byfuglien or Nick Leddy?
Probably, yes, as Chara and Hossa are the two best players there but I don't think it's that cut and dry. Signing big deal UFA's probably accelerates things and, I guess, allows for more control over the big ticket pieces you have but better in the long run? I'm unconvinced.
Ignore, for a second, the way we treat winning a Stanley cup as both the only acceptable outcome for a team and also something that justifies anything that precedes it.
When we talk about the big ticket free agents who helped their teams win cups, aren't we also talking about the teams that had to make the most bad decisions salary capwise? Would the Bruins have really been worse off if they hadn't signed Chara but could keep Kessel or Dougie Hamilton? Or if the Blackhawks didn't sign Hossa but kept Ladd or Byfuglien or Nick Leddy?
Probably, yes, as Chara and Hossa are the two best players there but I don't think it's that cut and dry. Signing big deal UFA's probably accelerates things and, I guess, allows for more control over the big ticket pieces you have but better in the long run? I'm unconvinced.
WhatIfGodWasALeaf
Active member
bustaheims said:
Of the young guys I think Hyman might be as close to a lock as they have, it really seems like Babcock fell in love with him, more than any other prospect that auditioned in fact.